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goatears Veteran user 400 Posts |
I have been practicing a mock gambling demo for the last few months and prepared it for a reunion, I didn't expect the crowd to be so big. As I began I realized my table was too low and my demonstration too small for the big crowd. The first few rows looked impressed, but after that they had no idea what I did.
How do I make it play bigger? I know Richard Turner uses a mirror, and on TV they always have screens and projectors. What's a cheap way to make it playable to more than 30 people? |
goatears Veteran user 400 Posts |
To make it better the biggest reaction I got was the XCM tasting ace production at the begining. I was not expecting that.
Besides that most of my demo happens flat on the table. |
tommy Eternal Order Devil's Island 16544 Posts |
I seem to recall this topic being the subject of long thread at the workers forum with all sorts ideas, but I am sorry I can’t remember the name of the thread now. Have you asked the question there?
If there is a single truth about Magic, it is that nothing on earth so efficiently evades it.
Tommy |
bishthemagish Inner circle 6013 Posts |
If I remember right there is a lay out for a table in one of the Tarbell books.
Also in the book "The Odds against me" I think that there is a picture of John Scarne and his table in the picture section. My suggestion is to do the act like Nate Lepizig did when he played vaudeville. Use a table - get two - four people up and sit them down in chairs. Use them in the routine as helpers. Magician standing play the action for the whole room however if some can't see - they should be entertained by the audience reactions and the reactions of the helpers. Also check out the two tables one in Tarbell one in the John Booth book and that Sacrne picture. I hope this helps - cheers!
Glenn Bishop Cardician
Producer of the DVD Punch Deal Pro Publisher of Glenn Bishop's Ace Cutting And Block Transfer Triumphs |
silverking Inner circle 4574 Posts |
Owen Magic has (still) the full Taylor/Haskell gambling act which features a vertical table, with ledges to put the cards on.
Owen still puts the entire bit out for around $650.00, but you could easily build your own similar table. Once the cards are on the vertical, and easily seen by specs, everything plays that much larger. There are two ledges on the vertical, each ledge holds a couple of hands. Above these two ledges is a short, tight spring, into which is inserted the "dealer" hand, which is displayed "fanned out" because of how it's inserted into the spring. There are other bits to the table as well, hold-outs, servant, etc.....but these are specific to the Haskell/Taylor act, and not needed for something of your own design. |
bishthemagish Inner circle 6013 Posts |
If I remember right I think that David Charvet told me that Rolland Hamblen was the magician that wrote and put together the Thayer gambling act. For a time he worked for Thayer magic as a demonstrator and knew quite a lot about the subject matter.
At one time Jack Pyle put together a big gambling act demonstration. With a lot of gambling props (holdout etc). However he stopped using it - and went in favor of entertaining using magic card tricks - plus poker and bridge deals. The bigger look with a table is interesting and it can help to be seen by the whole room - Scarne, Glenn Haywood and a few others used one. But I have found that just putting somthing under the two back table legs so the table will tilt a little bit forward - can also help the audience see the action on the table. I hope this helps. Cheers!
Glenn Bishop Cardician
Producer of the DVD Punch Deal Pro Publisher of Glenn Bishop's Ace Cutting And Block Transfer Triumphs |
luvisi Special user 601 Posts |
I used to think that gambling demonstrations were different from magic, because you're demonstrating a skill and not breaking the laws of nature. I still believe that a little bit, but now I think they have more similarities with a magic show than differences. They need to be put together with a focus on the effect, even if it is the same as the method in this context, and how to prove and emphasize it, they need to be routined with tension rising and falling appropriately, they need to be meaningful enough to the audience to create interest, and so on.
There's a review of MacDougall's act in The Jinx, and what I find most fascinating about it isn't the demonstrations, but the things he says and does to make people care more about what they're seeing. Andru
Andru Luvisi
http://www.practicenotincluded.com/ |
studentoflife Veteran user Paris, France 310 Posts |
Watching Darwin Ortiz's God of Gamblers again and again?
- Y
<BR>"Nothing is difficult...it's all about what you want, and how bad you want it." |
goatears Veteran user 400 Posts |
I wish I could find the other thread but the search engines down
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